A patent application filed concurrently with this application, entitled "Combination Dock Cleat and Chock".
1. Background-Field of Invention
This invention relates to the standard cleat used on boat docks and marinas to secure a boat to the dock, specifically to a device which will make such cleats safer and easier to use.
2. Background-Description of Prior Art
Although there have been many types of dock cleats patented, nearly all dock cleats in use in the United States today are the type which utilizes two horizontally protruding horns, extending in opposite directions. These two horns, attached to a common base, provide a surface which a line or rope can be tied or wrapped around, the other end of the rope being attached to the boat. The horizontally protruding horns are generally blunted, with a diameter of about 1/2 inch and are two or three inches above the surface of the dock, depending on the size of the cleat.
This type of cleat is simple and effective. The way it is used is generally understood by anyone who has any boating experience, and even a person unfamiliar with it can usually determine an effective way to secure a line or rope to the cleat.
One problem with this type of cleat is that the horizontally protruding horns must be oriented so that it is possible for a person walking along the dock to strike or kick the end of the cleat with his foot, which is usually painful and can cause serious injury.
This problem has been previously addressed in two ways.
One approach, for which a number of patents have been issued, makes use of folding or retractable cleats. Folding or retractable cleats do eliminate any danger of injury when they are in the retracted position, that is, when they are not being used. In order to use them, however, they must be exposed, resulting in the same hazard as standard cleats.
Because they involve moving parts they are more complicated and relatively expensive. Moving parts tend to jam or become inoperable either as a result of corrosion or due to the abuse they are subjected to. Installation is much more complicated since recesses must usually be cut into the dock. Also, some people attempting to use the cleats may not know how to "unfold" them.
The other approach used by previous inventors has been to redesign the cleat or to create a new cleat design which will effectively hold the boat but which has no protruding ends. Although many of these designs may work quite well, the average boater would not know how to use them. The education in their use that is required and the fact that they are not what people are used to is undoubtedly the major cause of the lack of commercial success of any cleat design which departs significantly from the standard type currently in use.